Enjoying the Next 10 Days–Gift & Entertaining Inspiration

Enjoying the Next 10 Days–Gift & Entertaining Inspiration

December 16, 2013 by · 2 Comments

Today marks the 10 day countdown until Christmas.  How is this even a possibility? Most of the last week I’ve spent with a sinus infection and have barely moved from couch/bed.  I’ve gotten nothing done and the only visions dancing in my head are of antibiotics and clear nasal passages.  This morning I spent a little time feeling sorry for myself and then I realized that my predicament is far from the end of the world and though not all of my Christmas prep may get done this year, we will still have a wonderful time together with family and friends.

In the spirit of trying to slow down and with a full heart for the many loves in my life, I am rejecting stress and am calling on some festive ghosts of Christmas past to help me celebrate this year.  I’ve spent some time today combing through past posts and pulling things related to gift-giving, entertaining and Christmas morning.  I was reminded of some quick, fun ideas and I hope they are helpful for you too.  Here’s what I found (follow the links to the view the complete posts):

Stocking Stuffers and Hostess Gifts (2012)

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Top Ten Stocking Stuffers (2011)

Great Grandma’s Sugar Cookies–Super simple and delicious freezer cookies that you can decorate as you please!

The Marez Family’s Favorite Cookie:  Scandinavian Almond Bar (2011)

Hot Chocolate Bar (2011)–Fun for the little (and big) kids:

Stacie’s Blackberry Lemon Sparkler (2012)

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Stacie’s Top 10 Children’s Books (2011)–Perfect place to start for the kids on your list:

Top 10 Hostess Gifts (2011)

Stacie’s Shop Local for Great Holiday Gifts (2012)

Merry & Bright (2012)–Christmas reflections and a few simple crafts:

My 6-CD changer in my car is loaded with Christmas tunes– (lovely & melancholy), (folky), (rock vibe), (magical).  If you see me stopped at a light, chances are my mouth is open wide and I am harmonizing at the top of my lungs, giving O Holy Night my very best shot.  This is the (one) time of year I consistently get out my guitar and some old sheet music.  It is a time of JOY . . . I just can’t help myself. My house is a happy explosion of pine boughs, holly, lights and glitter.  It is warm inside and the fire is on . . . at the very heart of me, I feel at home. – See more at: https://hometownperch.com/2012/12/merry-bright/#sthash.FnkH3SEQ.dpuf

Stacie’s Christmas Morning Breakfast Menu (2011)

My favorite quick, decadent Christmas morning casserole:  Baked Egg Custard with Gruyere.  You can do nearly everything the night before and just pop in the oven on Christmas morning.

To end on a sweet note,  an excerpt from my post, Friday Night In (2011):

Mid-movie, we took a break for our snack:  Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate! 

We thought about making our own chocolate mix, but due to our movie goals, decided to go with Safeway’s version.  We heated milk in a pan and added a little less chocolate than the directions required, whisking as we went.  We then put in a tablespoon of Sauce (the BEST caramel I have ever had!!!), and whisked away some more.  Tip:  go easy on the caramel at first and add to taste.

Once our mixture was hot, we poured into mugs, topped with whipped cream and a bit of coarse sea salt.  I found it easiest to pour a little sea salt into my hand and then sprinkle on top.

I wish you and yours a magical week before Christmas!

Filed Under: Crafts, Events, Family Topics, Things we Love, Top 10 Lists Tagged With: blackberry cocktail, Brunch, caramel hot chocloate, Christmas Brunch, Hot chocolate bar, scandinavian almond bars, Top 10 holiday gifts, Top 10 hostess gifts, top 10 stocking stuffers
Pop Up Shop

Pop Up Shop

June 25, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

On Sunday, my parents and their much-beloved neighbor and friend, Mary, created a Pop Up Shop to celebrate the recent launch of  my parents’ website, Native Habits.  What is a pop-up shop?  It is just as it sounds:  where once a shop did not exist, suddenly (pop!), it does.  With Midge & Dale’s (mom & dad’s) stunning yard as the backdrop, we went to work decking the pathways and bejeweling the patios/decks with beautiful found, vintage objects and my dad’s amazing creations.  To top it all off, beverages and snacks were served to keep everyone happy & browsing (Mary made these incredible cupcakes–chocolate with a peanut butter Lindt truffle baked inside and peanut butter, cream cheese frosting on top.  I  know.)

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What an entry! My dad created this water feature from an antique water pump:

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A red wine bar, turquoise chair & found objects:

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Stylish fun for the kids:

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A lush backdrop to enjoy while shopping:

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Love the use of branches to send creeping vines skyward rather than trailing over the pot:

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And besides the scenery & the cool stuff, there were also great people!

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Dylan & Stacie

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Mike & Kathy Paulson & Joani

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Close-ups of some of the goods:

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Treasures in my dad’s shop, beginning with the vibrant blue screen door:

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Vintage lights with Edison bulbs & hardwood boxes

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Vintage radio wine bars

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Hardwood knives in their own boxes

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And what a way to end the evening, paying the lovely lady on your way out:

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Want to be included in the next pop up sale?  Email and we’ll add you to the list.  Interested in some of the pieces above?  Check out the Native Habits site or email Dale & Midge Peterson at for a tour.

 

Filed Under: Beautiful Spaces, Crafts, Events, Things we Love Tagged With: beautiful gardens, bird houses, garden sale, Native Habits, Pop Up Sale, vintage objects, vintage sale, woodworking
A Productive Weekend

A Productive Weekend

May 26, 2013 by · 4 Comments

We decided to stay home this weekend and take advantage of the extra time to knock some projects off of our to-do list.

Our weekend has also been peppered with questions from the girls about the purpose of Memorial Day. It has given us a chance to talk about our fathers and their service in the military. Dylan and I both lost our biological fathers to car accidents when we were young. We don’t really have memories to share with the girls but we do have stories to pass on which were shared with us by our families as we grew up. The conversations this weekend remind me of another project I want to tackle in the future. We have our fathers’ flags. Currently they are stored in something like this–

But the triangle cases are starting to fall apart. I am in search of a creative, more modern way to display them. If you have any ideas, please send them my way.

Dylan’s big honey-do was to re-tile the powder room floor. I will have photos later in the week. My honey-dos revolved around the sewing machine. Some of you may remember that I have a love-hate relationship with my 1970′s era JC Penney sewing machine. Our relationship just got a little more complicated. The reverse button started acting up. I don’t know if she’s going to last much longer. But I was able to knock out these cuties.

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I started with this Market Floral fabric from The Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection. I simply cut and sewed four 19-inch squares and used ring clips to attach them to a tension rod. If you want super simple cafe curtains just buy square cloth napkins–no sewing required. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

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What are you up to this weekend? Are you relaxing at home? Traveling? Doing projects?

Filed Under: Beautiful Spaces, Before & After, Crafts, DIY, Family Topics, Projects, Stacie's House Tagged With: , , ,
Shower Curtain to Cafe Curtains

Shower Curtain to Cafe Curtains

April 1, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

I have wanted to add a touch of green to our house for a while now. I was also in need of new cafe curtains for our dining room bay window. I read that you can use dish towels with ring clips as cafe curtains but didn’t find towels in the right size. I wandered into Target’s bathroom section and found the perfect solution–a shower curtain in the fresh green and white color scheme that I’ve been wanting and in the perfect square size.

My supply list (all from Target) included:

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The first step was to trim off the top band where the shower curtain rings normally go.
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I then cut the shower curtain into four equal squares and sewed up the raw edges so that they were even in length and width. So simple!

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For around $60 I have new window coverings. I love the way they turned out. They add just the right touch of spring green to the dining nook.

Filed Under: Beautiful Spaces, Before & After, Crafts, DIY, Projects, Stacie's House Tagged With: cafe panels, cafe rods, , green curtain panels, green curtains, Target shower curtain
Fun with Words

Fun with Words

February 8, 2013 by · 2 Comments

We have been having some fun with words and shapes. Kendall wanted to create a word cloud in the shape of a heart. We have used Wordle before but were looking for something a bit different. That’s when we discovered Tagxedo.

Tagxedo is in Beta mode which means it’s free to use for the time being while they test out all the bugs. That’s good news for us!

Click here for a helpful video tutorial on how to use Tagxedo. There are tons of options including different shapes, different ways to add words and a variety of color combinations.

One of the features of Tagxedo is that you can set it to auto-populate words from a website. For the image below I used our Hometown Perch home page. I chose the shape I wanted, the color combination and then plugged in the URL. Tagxedo automatically pulled the words from the page. The words that appear the most often are larger and words that appear less frequently are smaller.  I laughed when I saw the word “laundry” in there. If this was a word cloud of my life, LAUNDRY would be gigantic!

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You can also upload your own shape. Here is a word cloud I created using our Hometown Perch logo. I used the auto-populate option again with this one.

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Here are a couple of fun word clouds by Kendall:

Shooting Stars

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US states

 

If you want a unique piece of art to frame and hang in your home, think about creating a personal word cloud. They bring a splash of color and fun into any space.

Happy Friday and Happy Creating. Have a great weekend!

Filed Under: Crafts, Fun with Kids Tagged With: create your own printables, Tagxedo, Word Clouds, Word printables, Wordle
Happy Hearts

Happy Hearts

February 3, 2013 by · 4 Comments

We replaced our Christmas paper ornaments with happy pink, red and white hearts.

I bought three packets of paper heart doilies at the dollar store. I also found a red and white twine laundry line–perfect to use for the garland.

I put a few hearts in the windows and Kendall went to work creating the garland for the top of the bigger window.

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She loved the look so much she decided to decorate her own bedroom.

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You can start to see the sun setting and the sky turning pink over the fields in this photo. I love Yakima sunsets!
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It never fails. Each year a splash of pink, red and white is just what I need to chase away the mid-winter blues. Anyone else need an injection of color this time of year?

Filed Under: Crafts, Fun with Kids, Projects Tagged With: dollar store valentine, heart crafts, heart garland, paper heart doilies, valentine crafts, Yakima sunset, Yakima winter
Free Subway Art

Free Subway Art

January 26, 2013 by · Leave a Comment

I have been busy around the house tackling projects that are free or close to free. I’ve been using up supplies on hand–paint, spray paint, knobs and hardware. I’ve been banishing brass, replacing dated light fixture shades with current ones  and covering up more of the subtle pink walls around this place. I’ll have some before and after photos to share with you soon.

But here is one project that was easy to knock off the list in less than an hour. I had all the supplies on hand. Score!

I had a frame with a mat that was the wrong size.

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I had a scrap of sunny yellow fabric. I ironed out the wrinkles and trimmed it so that it was a little larger than the mat.

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I lined up the pattern and folded and taped the fabric along the edges and corners.

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I found a free printable subway art sign at eighteen25, a blog with lots of beautiful, downloadable art. I stuck tape to the back and centered the sign on the front of the fabric. This will make it easy if I ever want to switch it out–might be fun to do for the holidays.

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I popped it into the frame and hung it in my hallway. Now this is what you see when you come in the door.
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What supplies do you have lying around that you could turn into art? If you come up with something fun, please share. I’d love to see it!

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Filed Under: Beautiful Spaces, Before & After, Crafts, DIY, Projects, Stacie's House Tagged With: fabric as frame mat, free art for your home, free printable subway sign, free printables, hallway art ideas, subway art
Merry & Bright

Merry & Bright

December 4, 2012 by · 5 Comments

My 6-CD changer in my car is loaded with Christmas tunes– (lovely & melancholy), (folky), (rock vibe), (magical).  If you see me stopped at a light, chances are my mouth is open wide and I am harmonizing at the top of my lungs, giving O Holy Night my very best shot.  This is the (one) time of year I consistently get out my guitar and some old sheet music.  It is a time of JOY . . . I just can’t help myself.

My house is a happy explosion of pine boughs, holly, lights and glitter.  It is warm inside and the fire is on . . . at the very heart of me, I feel at home.

And I like choosing gifts . . . I do not generally love shopping (except in small, local shops where I can wander and take my time), but I enjoy selecting something that I know someone will love, that I hope is meaningful.  The very act of choosing brings my loved ones to mind, along with the things they are passionate about and are driven by.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crafts, Family Topics, Fun with Kids Tagged With: annie lennox christmas, diy ornaments, easy ornaments, emmylou harris christmas, glass ornaments, glitter ornaments, holly ornaments, josh groban noel, monogram ornaments, sarah mclachlan wintersong
Gettin’ Crafty

Gettin’ Crafty

November 24, 2012 by · Leave a Comment

For all of you who celebrated, I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. My mom hosted this year and successfully packed 29 family members into her house.  It was busy and crazy and fun. Our little family of four took the time yesterday to relax and recuperate. I also took the chance to get a little crafty.

I saw a post about making paper ornaments on the Fiskars website. The tutorial calls for the use of Fiskars border punches, which are incredibly beautiful (do you hear that Santa?). But I had supplies at home to make a simpler version–decorative craft scissors, card stock and yarn.

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Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: DIY paper ornaments, fiskars border punches, make your own Christmas ornaments
Holiday Entertaining: DIY Wine Tags

Holiday Entertaining: DIY Wine Tags

November 19, 2012 by · 1 Comment

The beginning of the holiday season is fast approaching.  Thankfully (!) I’m busy at work . . . and so am only slightly distracted by thoughts of mashed potatoes, turkey & pumpkin pie . . . and cranberry sauce, a nice Cabernet and sitting by the fire . . . So, yes, I’m in favor of this Thursday and all that follows.

To that end, a quick and easy activity to liven up your events and keep everyone (and their drinks!) organized.  Raise your glass to these DIY wine tags: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Crafts, Food Tagged With: Christmas table, DIY wine tags, entertaining, make your own wine tags, party crafts,
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